


Strength and Stay

by perfect_cadence (Perfect_Cadence)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 03:54:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13286454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perfect_Cadence/pseuds/perfect_cadence
Summary: Gilgamesh was in the past, but he still haunted Cor's dreams.





	Strength and Stay

Cor's arms _ached_ , his sword strikes losing their power as his body weakened. He couldn't keep this up. All around him, demons mauled through his fellow Crownsguards. In the distance, watching the carnage unfold, Gilgamesh laughed.

_You are not worthy._

He realised that he was too slow, too weak, too lowly. All around him, bodies lay; mutilated and blood-spattered. Clarus, Regis, Cid, Weskham. Cor Leonis had failed to beat Gilgamesh and now he had failed to save his brothers.

_You are not worthy._

Pain. Fear. His throat closed up as the score of demons now surrounding him began to maul and tear at his flesh, despite his attempts to fight them off.

Gilgamesh strode forward, ready to deliver the killing blow. Choking on his own blood held down by claws and talons, Cor knew those were his last moments; watching as he strode inexorably forward.

The sword was raised above his neck.

"You are not worthy," said Gilgamesh, and down the sword came.

*

Cor scrambled upright in bed, his heart thundering like a freight train. He gasped shakily for breath, his hand at his throat, taking a moment to realise that he was in fact in his own bedroom in the Citadel, and not out in the wilderness.

He wiped the sweat from his face with his forearm, realising with a shiver that the tshirt he'd worn to bed was sodden with perspiration.

He looked at the clock. 2 am. _Great_.

He fell back on his pillows with a groan and tried to close his eyes again. The images flashed before his eyes with gory, vivid detail.

Dead Clarus. Dead Regis. Dead Cid. Dead Weskham. The members of his unconventional little family all gone because he couldn't save them. His stomach roiled.

_It was a dream,_ he told himself firmly _. It was just a stupid dream. Everyone's fine. You saw Clarus and Regis a few hours ago and they were fine._

The longer he lay there in silence though, the more agitated he became. What if they weren't? What if something really had happened to them while he'd slept on obliviously?

He could call Clarus. The older man had always been the first to help him when he'd suffered from night terrors after Gilgamesh; tugging Cor close against him in the tent to hold the teenager through his sobs, surrounding him with his gentle, solid, unshakeable warmth. Even when they had got back from their road trip, when he'd been too young to get his own apartment and had expected to go back to the Crownsguard barracks, Clarus had insisted he move into the shield's own apartment with him and been at his side every time he'd woken up screaming.

He was twenty now though, not fifteen. He was a respected member of the Crownsguard, not a cowering child! If his fellow guards knew he wanted to run to his surrogate big brother every time he had a nightmare, he'd be a laughing stock.

Still, he felt if he could just hear Clarus's voice, it would help calm him. It was two in the morning, it would go to voicemail anyway; Cor could listen to the shield's warm, deep voice and then try to go back to sleep.

He reached for his phone in the dark and scrunched his eyes up against the bright light as he scrolled to Clarus's number. Raising it to his ear, he was startled when Clarus answered on the third ring.

"Cor? What's up, kid?"

Cor was so grateful to hear Clarus's voice that he didn't even voice his customary protest at the nickname. "Hey," he breathed, voice cracking.

"Shit, you sound rough!" Clarus's voice became concerned at once. "You ok?"

"I..." Cor considered lying, but trying to deceive Clarus was pointless. He seemed to have an inbuilt radar for any time Cor considered hiding the truth from him. "It's nothing...I just...I needed..."

"Hey," Clarus's voice was gentle. "It's ok, kid. Talk to me."

"I had a nightmare," Cor confessed, feeling his face heat up. "Worst one in a while. I just... stupid, I know, but I needed to check you were still alive."

"...I'm coming up," said Clarus at once.

"No!" Cor protested at once. "I'm fine. You don't need to..."

"Cor," Clarus said flatly. "I am. Coming. Up. I'm still in my office, I won't be a minute."

Cor dragged himself out of bed to discard his sweat-soaked tshirt and shorts in favour of a clean set of sleepwear. Just as he was tugging the tshirt over his head, he heard the door to his apartment open. Clarus had evidently used his key.

He made his way through to his living room, barefoot, and felt a knot inside him loosen at the sight of the king's Shield. Clarus had evidently been working late; his tie was gone, his collar undone and his dark hair rumpled. But he was alive; tall, muscled and gloriously alive!

"C'mere, kid," he ordered, and opened his arms. Without a second's thought, Cor fell into them.

He was too tired and too shaken to feel ashamed of the way he burrowed into Clarus's embrace and held desperately onto him. He could feel the steady rise and fall of the other man's chest and tried to breathe in sync. He breathed in spicy scent of Clarus's aftershave and relaxed a little; everything about Clarus made him feel safe.

Clarus was here. He was alive, which meant automatically that so was Regis. Cid and Weskham were miles away, likely safe and well. Perhaps he'd text them in the morning and check.

"You're ok," Clarus said gently, running a hand over Cor's short hair. "I got you. Come on, why don't you come sit down and you can tell me what you were dreaming about."

Cor allowed himself to be led over to his sofa and sat down beside Clarus, who wrapped an arm around him and tugged him close. Head on the shield's shoulder, he shivered as he recalled his nightmare.

"Hey!" Clarus called, jarring him out of his fearful reminisces. "None of that happened. I'm right here, and Regis is asleep just a couple of floors away. Cid and Weskham will be fine too, I promise."

"I should never have tried to take on that challenge!" Cor said quietly, feeling goosebumps start on his skin. Gilgamesh grinned tauntingly in his mind.

"Yeah, well I think I made my feelings on that quite clear when you were well enough to have your ass whooped!" Clarus said wryly, the affectionate squeeze he gave Cor belying his words. "But listen, kiddo, we're not going anywhere, ok? Regis and I, you're stuck with us! Fuck, you're cold! I'll make us a hot drink. You got any cocoa powder in the kitchen?"

"Clarus, I'm not actually a kid," Cor managed to smile, the shield's very presence making him feel better. "You don't need to make me hot chocolate."

"Who says it's for you?" Clarus said airily, getting to his feet. "Maybe I want some after all the bloody paperwork I've been doing all night!"

Cor laughed and followed him through to the kitchen.


End file.
